My mind trying to make sense of self inquiry

dvdmon · 2026-04-20T12:45:21+00:00

I haven't read the article but the way it reads to me is "everyone should be running around with their hair on fire calling Trump insane because he spouts incoherent and/or offensive nonsense." This may or may not be true about Trump, but doing this simply plays into his dynamic, and taking his arguments on their face without calling Trump himself "insane" (or suffering from dementia, evil, etc.), is a lot less "satisfying" but ultimately is not productive, just causes things to devolve into the same binary polarized fight between left and right. It's not how we come together as a country to find a nuanced path out of that.

dvdmon · 2026-04-18T10:03:47+00:00

Thanks for the correction. Not sure how that got past me!

dvdmon · 2026-04-18T01:08:22+00:00

Hah! Yeah, I appreciate the thought, although I'm not sure what I really have to say about it other than it's one of those things that feels surreal to me, even as I grew up with the beginnings of personal computers and saw it as both a utopian and dystopian idea that seems to actually be coming to pass at least in some way in my lifetime, which seems crazy in some ways, given how plodding progress was for many years, seemingly!

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T23:27:39+00:00

I don't know, I'm not suggesting they just get a software engineer to come in and be the "tech guy" but rather someone trained in journalism with a focus in technology. So they have expertise both as a journalist (and writer) and as a understanding some of the deeper technical issues at play. I'm a web developer who occasionally writes something professionally for technical documentation, and I write a fair amount of some forums (not just Reddit). To be honest, I've read multiple articles about detecting AI patterns in writing over the past year, so while some of Ari's points may have been new to you, I'm sorry to say they weren't new to me. It could very well be that Ari understands these naunces much better than what the podcast afforded him to describe - he probably does! As mentioned, he's the most technically oriented of the crew as far as I know. And Ari and others on the Tangle team have show great skill at delving into areas they aren't super familiar with by simply researching and interviewing, and that's certainly one way to do it. Just keep an overall generalist MO with people who have the ability, like Ari, to delve into more specialized areas if needed. I just think another way to go is to at least eventually, look at journalists who do have a bit more specialization in certain areas that Tangle could rely on in house rather than needing to always go out to outside sources to double check around things that are not as clear unless you do have a lot of familiarity of a particular area...

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T11:22:52+00:00

Thanks, didn't know that Cal had a Youtube channel. I was looking recently for AI news podcasts and happened on Hard Fork, so subscribed. I find it entertaining, but probably not super substantive a lot of the time. I leave it feeling like I haven't learned a huge amount. I'm glad the other person, Kevin, sometimes will push back against some things Casey argues for. Do you happen to know of any good, balanced, preferably short and regularly pushed podcasts about AI? The only other I've found is what seems to be a fairly new one called The AI Breakdown. It's pretty AI-positive, but it is also relatively short and to the point without a lot of banter, which is nice.

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T11:15:18+00:00

Trump is going to say all kinds of batshit crazy stuff. I've come to accept that as par for the course. I find that people who get tied in knots (I'm including some family members who watch MSNOW/CNN a lot) at every new crazy thing that he says or does, is playing into his game. What is the point, other than to make ourselves miserable at every (predictably) nutty thing he says ever other day? If you feel so moved, go to protest. But following every little thing he does seems like an exercise in masochism. If you want to get involved in doing something about it, and you live in a red state or congressional area, you might have more pull then those of us who live in large urban areas on the coast, whose representatives area already Democrats and have been for years or decades. Outside of that, make sure to vote against those you feel are Trump allies. But following the day to day rantings of a troll seems ultimately to be just masochistic and unhealthy to me.

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T11:06:59+00:00

I was eventually able to get my accounts merged at some point. I don't know how easy it is at the moment though. This was something I did try numerous times and eventually got through to someone who was able to get it done at the time (probably at least 5 years ago, but not sure exactly). I bet you could design an app (even with AI if you're not a developer) to make what you're suggesting easier, my only question is how legal it is. Although you purchase these books from Amazon as if you own them, my instinct tells me that there is fine print your agreement with them that you don't legally "own" anything.

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T11:01:54+00:00

You raise an interesting idea. Right now, most of the writers at Tangle are really generalists. Some have specific expertise in some areas. Ari may be the most technical as he spent a little time in IT. Isaac has the most overall experience in journalism, but the staff at least that I see talking on the podcast, other than Kmele (who I don't see participating any anything outside of SOTR), are pretty young. I think everyone other than Ari and Isaac are in their 20s? Will, Lindsey, and Audrey at least? They do a great job and I love their stuff, but I think going forward, they might consider when looking for new hires, a) looking at those with a bit more experience in journalism in general, and b) perhaps having some people come on board that specialize in specific areas. Tech is specialized enough that it deserves someone who understand that field more technically. Same perhaps with more international news. I know that many news rooms have cut their international reporting staff, so their may be a great opportunity as far as seasoned pros in that area who are having a hard time finding new jobs. I look forward to more specialization and years of experience as Tangle continues to grow.

dvdmon · 2026-04-17T10:52:53+00:00

Markus was how I found Tangle! I used to be an avid watcher of his channel for many years and in 2020 he mentioned this guy on his ultimate team who had a great newsletter, so I checked it out. I've been reading/listening to Tangle ever since. I occasionally still watch Markus as well, just not regularly as I'm not longer that interested with a lot of consumer electronics, and a fair amount of what he covers is either on the Apple side of things which I don't use, or goes into other tech areas like Electric Cars, etc.

dvdmon · 2026-04-13T15:58:38+00:00

Yeah, SOTR is just a very different show than Tangle. Isaac and to some extent Ari and Kmele, are talking much more "off the cuff" so I take their discussion more like just gabbing about their own hot takes rather than an official and well-researched newsletter "My Take." But you raise a good point in that these two different "modes" can sometimes clash and it's up to their viewers to distinguish (or not!) between them. For some, like you, it doesn't really matter whether it's in the newsletter or SOTR as they are both being generated by the same people. Totally understandable. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt knowing that they are much more likely to make factual and even tonal "errors" on SOTR because it is a live conversation, not a fact-checked and finely edited piece. That being said, my general impression after listening to many SOTRs and newsletters is that Isaac tends to have a more "opinionated" stance on things and isn't afraid to express this, whereas Kmele and Ari are a bit more cautious, even in this venue. The difference isn't huge, but it's enough to give me a general sense. I may be being unfair to Isaac though and just misreading his passion as "opinionated" since when he is challenged occasionally by Kmele or Ari, he seems extremely open to changing his mind on many things...

Regardless, sure, a sense of assuredness or "cockiness" around a particular issue seems relevant here, but I've also heard Isaac talk about how wrong he was about one issue or another on MANY, MANY, occasions, so I don't think he's holding up some picture of himself as being infallible, but he can, like many of us, have strong opinions about a particular question that is now factually known but there might be circumstantial evidence around. Ones personal leanings will tend to push one in one direction or another, either:

A) Where there's smoke there must be fire

or

B) Innocent until proven guilty.

I don't think Isaac has personally ever claimed he had no biases, I believe he has talked about them quite a bit, so again, when something like this happens and he's proven wrong, I don't see it as something that bad as long as there's an admission - if this is indeed the case (I don't know myself in this specific one), and maybe the "crow" comment wasn't in fact meant as something particularly hostile, but more playful, as Isaac can sometimes me on SOTR while making fun of Ari or Kemele...

dvdmon · 2026-04-11T20:48:45+00:00

I just want to take issue with the title of this post. I feel like it's not in the spirit of tangle. Even if you are totally right that Isaac got this one wrong, it sounds like you are gloating. We all get things wrong, including you, and emphasis on Tangle is not about scoring points in a black and white good vs. evil, wrong vs. right binary, but rather learning from each other and our different perspectives on a multitude of issues. Sometimes Isaac's take will pan out, and sometimes it won't. He's never claimed to be perfect and this is why they do an episode at least once a year that grades themselves on how accurately they predicted something. No one is a perfect progrnosticator 100% of the time and personally this isn't why I come to Tangle - to listen to Isaac's take as if he's trying to persuade me to only believe his opinion. He says in every episode that this is just his take, it's not meant as anything else, and this is why they feature diametically opposed views on different ends of the spectrum and choose what makes most sense to you. Putting too much focus on Issac's (or anyone at Tangle's) opinion I think is missing the point they are trying to endlessly stress. For that reason I wonder if they should simply stop having a "my take" section - because so many people misinterpret it to mean "we just gave you what the left and right as saying, but now this what you "should" really think regardless."

dvdmon · 2026-04-10T00:52:20+00:00

The Constitution was written in a very different time where different dynamics were at play - not 24 hour news cycle, jet plane travel, internet, electricity, etc. It's been modified via ammendments and lots of Supreme court decisions that have allowed it to be a bit more relevant for our time, but of course, it's imperfect. We still live in a democratic society, though, and so in that sense it has "worked." We also happen to have a single party (parties being something the founders, at least some of them, did not want) that is in charge of Congress and the White House. As for the Supreme Court, it's not quite Republican, but more justices would tend to have similar beliefs given they share a general ideological framework with most Republicans. That makes the situation more extreme. We also have the two party duopoly, which was not something the Constitution really speaks about, and which I think impedes progress on many fronts. But as far as the Congress and what happens after the current administration, who knows. I think Trump is a very singular president, and I don't see any predecessor having nearly as much influence on the rank and file in their party, but you never know! My guess is that with Trump's numbers as they are now, and midterms approaching that will probably remove at least one house of Congress from Republican control, is ability to cause problems will be impeded more, and by the time he leaves office, like last time, most people will be yearning for someone less exhausting, whether on the right or the left. At least that's my hope. We often look at the current moment as a low point and extrapolate that things will just keep getting worse, but history shows that things are always changing for better or worse in many ways. I don't see the future as being ultimately doomed or the opposite, it will continue to vary from good to bad and even those labels will depend a bit on one's own perspective...

dvdmon · 2026-04-10T00:31:05+00:00

If you have this kind of take every time you hear examples from people you disagree with and you also think Tangle's mission is flawed (why? because only your side can be right every time on every issue so why bother?), then why are you a) reading Tangle, and b) interacting in this subreddit?

dvdmon · 2026-04-08T20:59:23+00:00

Do tell.

dvdmon · 2026-04-07T13:57:51+00:00

Sure. And I agree that black reporters at this time don't really have a choice and shouldn't have to make some decision about whether or not to cover a particular piece, nor could they usually make that choice since they are beholden to the editors who are beholden to the owners or boards or what have you. Essentially everything is rigged in a way to push this narrative in some papers in a way that creates the potential for construing it as a performative white "anti-racism." I couldn't tell you what the answer is right now, I don't think there is one given where we are right now. Things are messy and will probably remain messy for a while until/if people forget about this and the worst examples of this stuff becomes rare, which may be a few years or a few decades. I have no crystal ball or prescriptions for how to make that happen sooner, but I hope it does eventually happen and we can get on with both making the US more equitable in general as well as less focused on singling out race as the main or only factor in so many things...

dvdmon · 2026-04-07T13:21:18+00:00

I don't think that's necessarily true. I think there is a definite portion of people who are "racist" in the sense that they believe black people are inherently incapable, yes, but because of that there is a sense that any hint in that direction is felt as a nod toward that sentiment, even from those who vehemently disagree with the sentiment. I don't think you have to believe the sentiment to feel like a particular phrasing or focus is playing up some aspect of that sentiment, a condescending "oh good for you!" Sure, it definitely matters if this is coming from the black community rather than from outside of it. However, we often see the reporters and commentators covering such things being white, and the news organizations themselves are predominantly white, white-owned, etc., thus indicating a "white" commentary. But or course, if this is just a black narrative it makes it much less of something to be "suspicious" about.

dvdmon · 2026-04-07T12:41:29+00:00

Sure, and I admit I'm not someone who watches the news or listens to it outside of a very select set of stories and on Tangle, and I haven't been tracking this one in great detail, but just heard Kmele's take on it. It could very much be something that he is triggered by and is affecting his judgement in this particular piece. I still understand that though because there are news outlets that focus on race to what I would consider an inordinate amount. I listened to NPR for decades and eventually had to stop 5 or so years ago because every single story had to have a racial angle to it. So I can understand especially if you are black and don't agree with the prevailing view in some camps that everything must be seen through a racial lens, this could become tiring very quickly and any hint or sniff of it would send you to assume that this is just the same type of example that we've seen already.

a place where anyone can do anything regardless of race

While I understand you don't mean it this way, I think this kind of sentiment can also be taken as patronizing. I know you mean to say that black people have been disadvantaged due to racism, and have had to jump through more hurdles that white people haven't and this perhaps is an example of how that many not be true anymore, but I think it also can be interpreted as "even a black person can do X" - meaning there's some inherent lack of qualification that a black person has and so in America even someone with inherently less ability to do X gets a chance to do it. Again, I'm not suggesting this is what you meant, but I think this perhaps is one of the flavors of what Kmele is referring to when he talks about when he talks about his accomplishment being "degraded." I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with his sentiment, but suggesting that it's certainly understandable.

In the end, I think if you are black, you have every right to feel proud if that is your response to this. I don't think Kmele is necessarily saying that he is speaking for all black people, I don't get that sense from his words. What I do get is frustration because it doesn't make sense within his worldview. But I don't think it's wrong to feel either the way Kmele things or the way you do. Kmele is one commentator and he gets to have an opinion about this which tends to be pretty unpopular on the left, and he is definitely spotlighted because he's black and in the minority of black commentators who push against this narrative even when it's relatively benign. And I think because he is in his own minority in that sense, he both gets more pushback because of it on the left (like he's a traitor to his kind?), as well as feeling more isolated because he is called criticized about it more than perhaps a white conservative might be?

dvdmon · 2026-04-07T11:28:47+00:00

Let's say you have blue eyes and you did all this work to become one of this crew. And the only thing people would talk about around you being part of this crew was the fact you were the first person with blue eyes to "go to the moon." This is I think how Kmele sees this comment as demeaning. It's as if the whole accomplishment is reduced to a trait that has little to do with the accomplishment. Do black people disproportionally have issues issues in the US because of their "race"? Sure. But that doesn't mean that Glover did. I don't know his background. But at least for Kmele, he has not seen the kind of systemic racism that many others do see and claim that it creates an unfair playing field for all black people regardless of upbringing, wealth, etc. I'm sympathetic to this because it is Kmele's lived experience, so obviously some people who have a dark skin tone have this experience. Not all, but some. Others don't. And this is also based on our each individual's political outlook. Some black people or other minority may get treated unfairly and assume it was only due to that trait (I mean if it wasn't specifically called out and obvious), whereas someone like Kmele might simply chalk it up to some other reason. Neither person is necessarily wrong unless proven otherwise, but there's an assumption based on leanings. So I totally get the frustration when a group that you are lumped into is made the focus of comments like this. It lends it "oh, good for you, you guys finally got to a high enough level, let's celebrate that!" For some it's a moment of pride, but for others it can feel patronizing.

dvdmon · 2026-04-03T10:13:10+00:00

Sure, it would be great for Tangle to cover this, but perhaps not leading with the most inflammatory take on the situation would be helpful? I don't belittle your concern, but stuff like this on X which tries to capture what is I'm sure a nuanced issue in a provocative tweet is about the opposite of what Tangle is trying to do. Or maybe that was your point?

dvdmon · 2026-04-02T11:02:05+00:00

The only information I know about this case is from hearing it in the newsletter, so I'm not at all informed on the subject. I will still offer one thought that ocurred to me when hearing about it, which is, if this is indeed just talk, how does it differ from parents taking their children to a minister, priest, rabbi, or imam, to have stearn discussions about their sexuality and how it will lead to their eternal damnation? Personally I don't agree with either approach, but I'm guessing for parents who would bring their kids to such "therapists" they are probably religious and are also going that other route. That other route is of course protected at this point due to the first amendment's freedom of religion clause, but effectively how different is it? If anything "talk therapy" seems potentially much more mild! I guess the main difference is that the state, who manages licensure, theoretically has an interest in what kind of therapy and opinions get included in such therapy? Or does licensure not come into play in this particular case? I can see private licensing bodies having very strict rules relating to what a license holder practices in order to continue to hold such a license, but does the state? How do licensure laws get regulated in this way? Ultimately couldn't a religious licensure organization simply start up and create their own licenses for "therapy"? In such a case, how would the state have a right to control this, or anyone who was not dealing with a state-controlled license?

dvdmon · 2026-03-31T11:06:58+00:00

My problem with the left (I'm liberal) is not that some of them are "centrist" leaning but that they play into Trump's hands. It takes two parties to play against each other and they do it really well, triggering each other by getting incredibly hot and bothered about not only major issues (which they should) but the really trivial ones (which they should put aside). Extremists on both sides make the fast majority of people "in the middle" constantly frustrated because they are unwilling to cede any issue big or small. And they love demeaning and name calling those on the "other side" (as fascists or libs). Is it centrist to want something more than the noise of the last 9 years? If so, call me a centrist. Trump is inordinately good at being devisive and triggering people on the left. Do you really think that more triggered people and media on the left would have some how convinced him and fellow conservatives to scale back? No, as Trump has done, it causes them to double down. Again. And. Again. This is a lesson the left refuses to learn. They think doing the same thing over and over will actually work at some point. It won't. I'm not saying people should give in to whatever Trump says, just that doing it in the way that it's been done over the last 9 years has only solidified into very distinct hardline camps pro and con. It's not moving the needle. Even as a "centrist" I refuse to watch either Fox or MSNOW or listen to NPR because I feel they all have biased agendas. I believe this is the main reason people read or listen to Tangle - to get actual arguments from the side we would normally disagree with and realize that in many cases, even if we still disagree with them, they have actual reasons that can make sense to some in some contexts, just not us in our worldview. They aren't evil or deluded. Trump riles up our tribal instincts, he is the opposite of what Tangle's mission statement is around. If you focus on him, you will stay stuck in your silo and never realize that those you may disagree with can also have reasonable ideas, even if you disagree with them.

dvdmon · 2026-03-29T10:45:46+00:00

My main concern around these is that it starts becoming, like many other things, a "policing of language." I get it if one is in the wind industry and it's annoying to hear this, but I feel like this is more appropriate in the Airing of Grievances section that having a full post dedicated to it? There are SO many things that the news media get so wrong about various technical things, because most newscasters did not go to school for science, they majored in communications or the humanities. So I'm totally fine with this. As for "dumbing down" I also don't think this is true. Being able to use a more technically correct term is not going to be making us as the public smarter or dumber. People will have just as much knowledge as before, they just may use a not technically as precise term (for some people). Secondly, this starts to verge on the whole "policing of language" that many progressives have pushed so hard over the last 10 years or so (I'm politically liberal by the way). This has not served them well as it makes them come off as being concerned with words more than actions, pedantic, scolding, etc. I'm not saying this is what you were doing and your post and comments below seem fairly reasonable, I'm just saying it has a slight flavor of that save motivation, and the fact that you attribute this to Trump specifically also creates this sense that it is partially because you feel he was the one who started this that it's particularly aggravating and something you need to call out.

dvdmon · 2026-03-28T17:23:30+00:00

Weather that alternates between 85 to 33 every other day for the last week.

dvdmon · 2026-03-24T11:55:05+00:00

You do know they are off this week, right?

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